Jerusalem and Preterism

The centrality of the ‘city of God’ (Jersualem) in the Tanakh (OT) is without equal.

As the capital of the Land of Israel (since King David’s day), it is the centre of the ‘apple of God’s eye’

Zechariah 2:

"1 And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand!
2 Then I said, Where are you going? And he said to me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.
3 And behold, the angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him
4 and said to him, Run, say to that young man, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it.
5 And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the LORD, and I will be the glory in her midst. 

6 Up! Up! Flee from the land of the north, declares the LORD. For I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, declares the LORD.
7 Up! Escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.
8 For thus said the LORD of hosts, after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye:
9 Behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they shall become plunder for those who served them. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me.
10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the LORD.
11 And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.
12 And the LORD will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem."

The Almighty is very emphatic here in His prophecy, through the mouth of Zechariah, that a day would come when He would bring His people Israel back into the Land of Israel and also bring the peoples of many nations ‘into the fold’ to also live and worship the Almighty in Jerusalem.

In describing this future time Zechariah also writes in Zec 8:3-8:

"Thus says the LORD: I have returned to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts, the holy mountain.
4 Thus says the LORD of hosts: Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of great age.
5 And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.
6 Thus says the LORD of hosts: If it is marvelous in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, should it also be marvelous in my sight, declares the LORD of hosts?
7 Thus says the LORD of hosts: behold, I will save my people from the east country and from the west country,
8 and I will bring them to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in faithfulness and in righteousness."

Some have tried to argue that this prophecy had been fulfilled prior to the first century CE, yet this prophecy has no use by date, no ending to the peace of Jerusalem that it promises.

Further, it also includes some specific prophecies regarding the Holy Days that have never been observed or fulfilled to this very day. For example in Zec 14:16-19 we read that during this time of great peace, (and after great tribulation that precedes it):

“Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep Sukkot.
17 And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them.
18 And if the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves, then on them there shall be no rain; there shall be the plague with which the LORD afflicts the nations that do not go up to keep Sukkot.
19 This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment to all the nations that do not go up to keep the Sukkot.” 

The place of Jerusalem is so central to YHVH that he calls people to pray for the shalom of Jerusalem (Ps 122:6). This prayer is part of the great prayers for the Coming Age.

In the Coming Age, the Kingdom of God, the real Jerusalem will be the centre of the world, not just of Israel, as the world observes all the Holy Days including Sukkot.

It requires very considerable ignorance of the God of Israel and His Scriptures to suggest, as Preterism does, that the destruction of Jerusalem could in any way usher in the Coming Age. This is instead an shocking and abominable error.

(Sadly, the Christian doctrine of Preterism is clearly one born in a closed and blinkered world-view, that not only fails to base its NT interpretations on the integrity and bedrock of the Tanakh, but that also requires a suspension of rational belief in the physical nature of our world and its inhabitants. That is, Preterism not only denies the established truth of the Tanakh, it also denies the natural revelation of God as well.)

Instead, this horrific event in 70 CE, along with the Bar Kochba tragedy of 135 CE led to the last great exile of the people of Israel to the ends of the earth (a fulfillment of a prophecy of exile that neither the Assyrian or Babylonian exiles had met).

The final exile was also prophesied to have a final return of the Jewish people after which "they will never be rooted up again" (Amos 9:14-15).

This return began in 1948. See 'Israel: Return in Belief or Unbelief’ for details - http://www.charismacomputers.com.au/Christian%20site/Israels%20Return%20in%20belief%20or%20unbelief.pdf

So it is the restoration of Jersualem, both as the capital of Israel and as the centre of the worship of the Almighty’s great days such as Sukkot that signifies the potential arrival of the Coming Age, NOT the destruction of Jerusalem.

For some 2000 years, the Jewish people in the Diaspora would cry out 'Next Year in Jerusalem'. This prayer has been answered, the Land is once again blossoming under the blessing of the God of Israel.

While Jerusalem remains a 'stumbling block' for the world, her centrality in the purposes of God is undiminished and her future will ultimately be extremely bright and a great 'shadow', a great example and beacon to the even brighter 'New Jerusalem' of the New Universe!

For more on the place and role of Sukkot see
http://aubreyandpaul.podomatic.com/entry/2012-09-30T05_42_58-07_00 and this powerpoint presentation I did at a Sukkot Conferences on the importance of all the 'Fall Feasts' - Yom Teruah (the Day of Trumpets); Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) and Sukkot (the Feast of Booths, with Simchat Torah - the Joy of Torah on the last day) - see http://www.charismacomputers.com.au/FeastTalks2010/Talk1%20Intro%20to%20feasts%20GC%20sept%202010.pptx

For more on the error of Preterism see 'Preterism: Not Even on Judaism's Radar' - here or my ebook 'Doctrinal Pitfalls of Hellenism'